This afternoon's red post collection includes Kled's champion bio & story, a direction post on Rengar's Assassin update, the PROJECT DISRUPTION cache now available, a League Podcast on Kled's development, and much more!

Champion Bio: KLED, THE CANTANKEROUS CAVALIER

"The earliest known story of Kled traces back to the empire’s infancy and the Battle of Drugne. In the dusty hills of those badlands, the First Legion was on the run from a barbarian horde. Having lost the two previous battles, the men’s morale was low, the army had been forced to abandon its supply train in the rout, and they were a week’s march from the nearest outpost.

In command of the Legion was a gaggle of wealthy nobles bedecked in spotless golden armor. They were more concerned with their appearances and the intrigues of their class than the men they were commanding. Worse, these commanders—though well versed in assassination and tournament fighting—had proven hopeless on the field. With the remains of the army surrounded by enemy forces, the nobles ordered the Legion into a defensive circle in hopes of negotiating ransoms for themselves.

Then, as the morning sun rose, the mysterious figure of Kled appeared on the hilltop overlooking the battlefield. He rode Skaarl, an immortal desert drakalops. The mount stood on only two legs; its ear-like forelimbs fanned from the side of its head, hanging down apologetically, like a butler who had accidently dipped his hands in soup.

The lone rider stood on his steed’s saddle. His weapon was rusted, his armor was worn, and his clothes were tattered— but a relentless anger burned from his one good eye.

“I’ll give you one chance to get off my land!” Kled announced to the barbarian horde, but the yordle didn’t wait for their answer. He spurred his steed and angrily screamed his charge.

Desperate, starving, and furious with the nobles, the Legion’s anger ignited like blasting powder at the yordle’s insane act of bravado. The enlisted men rushed after Kled and Skaarl as they tore into the center of the enemy formation.

What followed was the bloodiest melee the Legion had ever fought. The initial success of its surprise attack was crushed when the barbarians’ reserve forces smashed into the Legion’s flanks. With the battle turning against the Noxians and the enemy attacking from every side, Skaarl panicked, threw Kled, and abandoned the fight. Like the cowardly lizard creature, the Noxian soldiers faltered. But at their center, Kled fought on, chopping down foes, kicking out teeth, and biting faces.

Enemy bodies piled around Kled, and his clothes were soaked with blood. Despite the casualties he inflicted with every swing of his long axe, he was still forced back by the barbarians’ relentless tide. He screamed louder challenges and cruder insults. Clearly, the yordle was willing to die before ever backing down.

Courage and cowardice are as infectious as the plague, however, and seeing Kled’s determination, the legionnaires pressed on. Even Skaarl stopped running and turned to watch the Legion’s last stand.

Then, as the Noxian line was breaking and the enemy’s superior numbers pulled Kled to the ground, the drakalops triumphantly returned and crashed into the barbarians’ rear. Snarling and clawing, it dove into the churning melee until it freed its master. With his mount again beneath him, the reinvigorated Kled became a whirlwind of death, and it was the barbarians who broke and ran.

Though precious few of the Noxian soldiers survived, the battle was won. The tribes of Drugne were defeated, and their lands were added to the empire. The bodies of the nobles, and their fine golden armor, were never found.

In time, most of the empire’s other legions acquired similar stories of Kled, proving no defeat is certain in the face of insane courage. It is said he rides wherever the legions travel, claiming the spoils of war and land for himself and Skaarl.

Most Noxians find the truth of these tall tales questionable at best. But in the legions’ wake, signs can always be found proclaiming each new territory “Property of Kled.”

The Northern Steppes ain’t the place for fancy undies and golden piss pots. It’s tough land. Ain’t nothing go here but barbarian raiders, poison grass, and harsh winds. To survive, you gotta eat rocks and crap lava. And I’m the toughest, meanest, killingest bastard in these parts. So I figure that makes these plains mine.

“But how did I end up here? And why am I alone with yer dumb yella hide?” I say out loud, starting it off again.

Skaarl snorts her response from the rock she’s sunning herself on. Her scales is dark metal with hints of gold. Ain’t nothing can break that drakalops’s skin. I’ve seen a steel sword shatter against her leg.

Don’t make her farts smell any better though.

“I’m callin’ you a damn coward. You got somethin’ to say about that?”

“Greefrglarg,” it says as it looks up and yawns.

“It was a hooked grouse! No bigger than my hand. And you run… Darn dumb, stupid animal!”

“Greef…rglarg?” Skaarl asks as it swats the flies away from its half-opened eyes.

“Oh, good retort! Yeah, real funny, right? Ha ha ha! I’m damn tired of yer heretical pontifications. I should leave ya here to die. That’s what I should do. You’d die o’ loneliness. Hell, you wouldn’t last a day without me.”

Skaarl lays its head back down on the rock.

There ain’t no use communicating with her. I should forgive her—but then, and no doubt to mock me, her sphincter splutters rhythmically as she breaks wind. The smell hits me like a frying pan.

“That’s it, you bastard!” I throw my stinking hat onto the ground and march away from the campsite, swearing I’ll never set eyes on that foul-mouthed drakalops again. ’Course, it was my good hat, so I have to trot back and snatch it off the ground.

“Yeah, keep sleeping, ya lazy flaprat,” I say as I walk away. “I’ll do the patrol!”

Being ten moons from any farmstead don’t preclude doing the patrol. It’s my land. And I aim to keep it that way. With or without that treason-ish lizard’s help.

The sun’s dragging its way down to the horizon by the time I reach the hills. This time of day, the light plays tricks on you. I meet a snake who wants to discuss pie crusts. Except it ain’t a snake, it’s the shadow of a rock.

Damn shame. I have some durn specific notions about pie crusts. At least when I remember what they are again. I ain’t had a proper conversation about the subject in years.

I’m about to take a swig of my mushroom juice and explain my views to the snake, when I hear them.

Drake hounds howling and braying. It’s the sounds those beasts make when they is herding elmarks. And if there’s elmarks, then there is humans. And those humans is trespassers.

I scramble up a nearby boulder and check north first.

The rolling hills of my grasslands is empty, save for the iron buttes scattered across the horizon. The braying sounds might be the mushroom juice playing tricks on my head… But then I turn south.

They is about a half day’s walk from this hill. Three hundred elmarks grazing. Grazing on my land.

The drake hounds circle around the herd, but there’s no horses. A few humans walk around them on foot. Humans don’t like walking. So it don’t take a genius to figure they must be part of some larger convoy then. ’Course, I am a genius. So that was easy to figure.

My blood begins to boil. That means more damn trespassers, disturbing my peace. Here, when I was about to have a lovely conversation about pie crusts with that snake.

I take another sip of mush-juice and head back to the campsite.

“Get up, lizard!” I say as I grab my saddle.

It raises its head, grunts a response, and returns to lying in the cool grass.

“No, No, NO! They’s that way! That way!” I say, using my reins to pull the cowardly beast back in the right direction.

“Greefrglaaarg!” the drakalops cries as it kicks off. In an instant, she’s running. The insane speed of it makes my eyes close. Scrub grass whips painfully against my legs. A cloud of dust billows behind us. What’d take me half a day of walking is past before I can get my hat tied down.

“Greefrglorg!” the drakalops screeches.

“Now, don’t be like that! Weren’t you saying you wanted company last night?”

The sun is just starting to dip below the horizon when we reach the herd. I slow Skaarl to a trot as we approach the humans’ campsite. They’d already started a fire and have a stew going.

“Hold, stranger. Show your hands before you approach,” a human in a red hat says. Their leader, I figure.

I slowly take my hands off the reins. But instead of putting them up, I pull my long axe from its saddle loop.

“I got it under control,” I tell my lizard, before turning my attention back to the humans. “I ain’t impressed with your fancy, city-folk weapons. Now I’m giving you one warning. Get off my land. Or else.”

“Or else what?” a younger human asks.

“You boys best know who you’re dealing with,” I say. “This is Skaarl. She’s a drakalops. And I’m Kled, Lord Major Admiral of the Second Legion’s forward artillery—cavalry multiplication.”

“And what makes you think this is your land?” asks the human in the red hat, smirking.“It’s mine. I took it from them barbarians.”

“It’s property of Lord Vakhul. He was granted it by the High Command. It’s his by rightful dispensation.”

“Well, High Command! Why didn’t you say so?!” I say before spitting on the ground. “The only law a true Noxian respects is strength. He can have it. If he can take it from me.”

“You and your pony best be moving on, while you still can.”

I forget sometimes humans don’t see us like we see them. It’s the last straw though.

“CHARGE!!!!” I scream, and snap the reins. The drakalops kicks off, and we rush them. I meant to make a clever retort first, but I got ahead of myself.

The humans let loose their first volley, but Skaarl raises her ears. Like giant bronze fans, they shield us as the crossbow bolts ricochet off her impenetrable flesh.

She roars happily as we dive through their camp at the leader in the red hat. Swords clang against Skaarl’s hide, while my axe swings. I turn two of them humans into confetti. The bastard in the red hat’s quick. He ducks under my blade as we pass by.

I yank the reins, and we ride back into the middle of the humans. I easily kill the rest of his men, but the red-hat bastard’s a tough one. My blade slams into him—but the blow clangs dully against his heavy breast plate. That should give him something to think about, anyway.

That’s when the ballista fires. The bolt is longer than a wagon. It smashes into the drakalops, knocking my long axe from my hand, and sends us rolling to the ground.

Skaarl ain’t hurt. But she shakes me off the saddle and runs for the hills.

“You ungrateful bastard! We had the frassa-gimps in the razabutts!” I mean to scream more insults, but my words start tripping over themselves.

I roll to my feet. Dust and grass cover my face. I throw my hat toward the cowardly lizard’s path, then turn back to kill the man in the red hat.

But behind him, on the hill line, is another hundred of them humans. Iron warriors, bloodrunners, and a wagon-mounted ballista. Red-hatted blurf-herder brought most of a legion with him.

“You ain’t nothing but a durn sneaky-sneak!” I scream.

“You don’t look like much,” he says, “but I guess you’re the one who’s been giving Lord Vakhul’s ranchers so much trouble.”

“Maybe I’ll let you end your days in Lord Vakhul’s fighting pits. If you can learn to keep your mouth shut.”

“I’m gonna rip your lips off and use them to wipe my butt!” I roar.

I guess he don’t like that, ’cause him and his hundred friends start running at me, weapons drawn. I could run. But I don’t. They’ll pay dearly to kill me.

Red Hat’s fast. He’s nearly on me before I can recover my weapon from the ground. His blade is high. He’s got the killing stroke. But I’ve got my hidden scattergun.

The blast sends him to the ground. It knocks me back, too. I tumble end over end. The single shot buys me some time. But not much.

The bloodrunners are closing fast. Their hooked blades is ready. I’m gonna die in this turd-stain. Well, if it’s my last stand, might as well make it a good one.

I dust myself off as the first line of bloodrunners attacks. I’m carving those dark magical bastards apart, but they’re cutting me to ribbons. I’m beginning to tire from the effort and loss of blood.

Then the iron warriors scream their battle cries, as they charge in their thick black armor. They’ve split into two groups, doing one of those “pinching” maneuvers. Plan on using those two walls of metal to crush me flatter than a Noxian coin.

Damn it.

Any hope I got of surviving this, it’s gone…

And that’s when I see her. The most loyal, trustworthy, honorable friend an undeserving bastard like me could ever have.

Skaarl.

Riding like hell toward me. Faster than I’ve ever seen her run. A rooster tail of dust is shooting up behind her. The damn lizard even picks up my hat on her way to me. I run to her just as those black-clad warriors are about to crush me.

I leap into the saddle, and we circle around the iron warriors. There’ll be time to kill them after we get rid of that ballista.

Inside Kled Dev with Harrow and more!

"Welcome to the latest League Podcast, a series in which we take you behind-the-scenes with the people who help make League possible. Expect new guests and new stories every couple of weeks or so, and make sure to hit us with those comments and ratings so we can keep striving toward a Challenger-tier podcast.

This week, designer Iain “Harrow” Hendry, writer Odin Shafer, and artist Edmundo Sanchez share the behind-the-scenes story on the development of Kled, the Cantankerous Cavalier."

Assassin Roster Update - Rengar Direction

It probably comes as no surprise to most that Rengar is one of the assassins getting an update in the preseason. When you think of champions in League that are capable of “one-shotting” you, Rengar is one of the first that comes to mind. In this update, we’ll be making sizeable changes to how the Pridestalker takes down his prey. This will include more opportunities for opponents to anticipate and react to his attacks, but also making his combat options more ferocious and less predictable.

So let’s get into the kinds of change we can expect to see for him:

More ceremony and depth to Thrill of the Hunt:
One of the reasons Rengar is so frustrating to play against is that it feels like the game is trying to give you information about what’s going on around you when he’s using Thrill of the Hunt, but the information is so minimal (and so late) that it often leaves you wondering why you got any information at all. Expect Thrill of the Hunt to change in ways that gives opponents more meaningful play against it, but also in ways that give Rengar tools and options to outwit and outmaneuver his opponents rather than needing to be so brute force about things.

Some new spells (or significant changes to existing spells) on Rengar’s base kit:
Rengar’s current kit strongly incentivizes him to use all of his spells immediately, and he can drop his whole base kit on you in a matter of .25 seconds. Some of this may be the nature of the Ferocity system, which tells you to max your Ferocity ASAP, but a large part of it is also that his Q and W have very little context as to how to optimize them effectively. Rengar players deserve adrenaline-pumping, healthbar-chunking button presses, but they shouldn’t all come out in the same instant, and they should have degrees of failure and success. His new empowered W is looking to be a game-changer.

Changes to the Ferocity system:
The Ferocity system on Rengar’s kit is one of the standout points of uniqueness on the character, but it has some flaws in its current version. Because Rengar needs to build five Ferocity to get an empowered spell, and he only has three spells to build with, he can’t rely on getting to max Ferocity in a fight if he starts from zero. Thus, expert Rengar players usually optimize by approaching a fight with four or five Ferocity that they’ve built up against a minion or monster. Ferocity should have to be built within a fight, but Rengar should also be able to reasonably expect that he can get to the first empowered spell quickly and consistently. Expect Ferocity to be a mechanic that you make decisions around within a fight, rather than before it.

Adjustments to the Bonetooth Necklace:
Bonetooth Necklace has a really strong fantasy behind it, but its current mechanics are just… off. First of all, Rengar is supposed to be all about conquering the strongest beasts out there, but given the current mechanics of Bonetooth, he’s more often best off just murdering the same unfortunate victim over and over again. If that was the only oddness to the thing, it might be acceptable for gameplay purposes, but the reward structure is also problematic. Upgrades like “Rengar now jumps farther with his leap” and “Rengar runs faster during R” are problematic. For example, if Rengar’s jump range should be longer, we should make it the default and let opponents get used to it. Ultimately, Bonetooth Necklace should be more about dominance over all opponents, and the upgrades it provides should be powerful, but they shouldn’t significantly alter spell mechanics or force opponents to relearn his spell ranges.

A champion that doesn’t live and die by the bugs it encounters on a game-to-game basis:
This isn’t really about gameplay mechanics changes, but Rengar is essentially getting rebuilt from scratch under the hood. It’s important that your success as a player isn’t dependent upon whether your E decides to fire or not.

And that should mostly bring everyone up to date concerning the direction we’re taking things! Feel free to leave your questions/comments below, and I (or someone else on the team) will swing back around to them shortly.

Cheers,
Repertoir"

When asked about Rengar's window of assassination time, RiotRepertoir noted:

"Quote:

Will he still be able to one-shot or will he be more of a fighter now? And will his ganks still revolve around his ult?

Ideally, his "one-shot" now takes 1-2 seconds in the ahead case (rather than 0.5-1). His killing pattern will probably still be largely dependent upon his ultimate."

When asked about wanting to keep Rengar's stealth, RiotRepertoir added:

"Quote:

is there any insight on this demand to keep Rengar's stealth?

Feels like an important part of who Rengar is. If he was just fast for awhile, it would probably feel like a watered down Yi Highlander. We'll be making changes to it to make it more fair while still being a blast for Rengar."

RiotRepertoir continued, commenting on the general stealth system changes:

"Quote:

Are you gonna do a update post on the changes you're thinking about for stealth? Because that's the real issue with Rengar.

I expect that someone will make a post about some of the upcoming changes to stealth, but I'm not sure when. To the best of my knowledge, there are still quite a few moving parts there.

That said, Rengar's update is currently operating under the conditions of the new stealth system."

Here is the big question, What are you going to do if his kit has the same problem even after his rework? Are we to wait another few years to see some work done to fix the solution or just minor nerfs until he is where he is now?

Honest Question due to what I am replying to is almost exactly what riot said the last time he was reworked.

This update will have much more work in it than anything he's gotten in the past. We're investing more in it this time so that we won't have to revisit it in the future (except for potential balance work)."

Is it still possible then to perform a full combo in-air if you rework his w spell in something new?

My current plan is to make it so that you can cast one spell in the middle of a leap. This may come as some disappointment to some Rengar players (the ones that have optimized their Q+E+Tiamat+W inputs), but being able to cast all your spells mid-air leads to some of the omgwtfburst problems he's had in the past.

This will be less of an issue altogether with the Q changes we're looking to make."

When you say his empowered W will be a gamechanger does that mean it's not gonna be a heal anymore ?And will his normal S follow that change ?

Current plan is that both his base W and empowered W receive significant change. From the onset of working on Rengar, it felt pretty lame that he had a button that just gave him tank stats."

When asked if they had considered making Bonetooth Necklace function more like Kha'Zix evolution, RiotRepertoir noted:

"Quote:

if u will touch his passive try to play with it. like we choose masteries let rengar players choose ingame what will they upgrade in his passive like now he stack on kills so with this new passive u could choose one or another like 3 or more times (lvl 6/11/16) in way like kha evolution

I thought it would be pretty cool if he got upgrades to his spells based on Bonetooth Necklace stats or something, a bit like Kha'Zix gets spell evolutions. We went away from that direction though because it felt somewhat forced in practice."

As for potential changes to Rengar's current itemization, RiotRepertoir noted:

"Quote:

What do you guys think his new build path is going to revolve around? Right now it's the "Buy crit, one shot with max ferocity ult Q."

And if he feels like, he can just switch full AP build and still get the same results (once he's super far ahead of course).

I don't think his build paths will change too dramatically. Some items may increase/decrease in priority, but his desire for stats should main pretty similar to what it is now."

It will still be there in one way or another, but may be modified slightly to fit changes to Bonetooth Necklace."

When asked for more details on potential assassin itemization changes, Reav3 noted:

"Quote:

Do you (not you personally, the whole update team) are planning on releasing items with unique actives on the update? Like the GPL stuff you did on mage update

We are still to early into Assassin Items to give a solid answer here. Hopefully we can give a better answer in a month or so."

Reav3 also mentioned the next direction post will be for an AP assassin:

"Quote:

Will an AP Assassin be a part of the larger rework?

Yes! Next weeks direction post should be on a AP assassin!"

Disruption Cache now available

The PROJECT Disruption Cache is now available - including a summoner icon, random a PROJECT: Overdrive skin shard 7 project cores (which can be used for FIRST STRIKE icons or the skin shard blue print), and 2 augment cache fragments. These are available through the end of the event on August 16th!

"PROJECT: DISRUPTION // First Strike // ACTIVATE PHASE 02…

You can now recover the remaining materials required to craft a First Strike icon for PROJECT: Ashe, PROJECT: Ekko, or PROJECT: Katarina. Obtaining a First Strike icon unlocks unique borders for that skin’s loading screen card.

Secure your PROJECT: DISRUPTION Cache before it self-destructs on
August 16 at 23:59 PT.

// END TRANSMISSION"

For more on the new PROJECT content and crafting components, click here!

New Player Guides updated

The new player guide on the LoL web page has received a face lift, including updated pages, introductions, and much more!

Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - 6.16, the Pre-Pre Worlds Patch

"What's up guys! I'm Aesah, and I'll be filling in for Gentleman Gustaf to bring you today's Patch Chat, which will be posted here on Dev Corner every two weeks along with the release of each new patch.

I recently joined Riot's Playtest Team, a group of Diamond+ players who play with the new champions, reworks, balance tweaks, items, and map updates before they are released. It's our job to the test the changes that our designers come up with and ensure that we're introducing positive changes to LoL in terms of both balance and fun.

In 6.16, we're excited to be releasing Kled, the Cantankerous Cavalier to bring some new dynamics with his dismounting/re-mounting mechanic to the Rift. Otherwise this patch is relatively minor- there are a few support changes with buffs to Lulu and Nautilus, while toning back Sona's newfound powers to a more reasonable level. Irelia and Viktor have also been performing just a bit too well, so we're cutting their power a bit too.

All of us on the Playtest Team are avid gamers so feel free to talk to us as fellow LoL players. Additionally, you guys can use this opportunity to ask us anything about what it's like to work at Riot as a playtester. While we can't answer specific questions about anything that would be considered a leak, the Playtest Team will be around for the next few hours to try to answer as many questions as we can.

We have an ALL Chat announcement – the show is moving to MONDAYS AND FRIDAYS. We heard you out and having only one episode of ALL Chat each week just was not working. So now, we will be bringing you two episodes a week, Monday and Friday, which focus on separate segments of the show. We will be trying this new schedule starting today and would love your feedback to keep making the best show we can for you!"

[REMINDERS]

Last up for today's red post collection we have a few reminders on current promotions and events!